THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Eric Duhatschek on how the KHL has improved, but there will still be challenges for North American NHL players who decide to play there during the lockout. Roy MacGregor, meanwhile, writes about the impact the lockout could have upon charities.

EDMONTON JOURNAL: Player agent Steve Bartlett isn’t expecting this lockout to be lengthy, suggesting it could be over in weeks, possibly by American Thanksgiving in late-November.

Ovechkin prepared for lockout to last entire season.

WASHINGTON POST: Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin is prepared for the lockout to last the entire season.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Let’s hope Bartlett is right and Ovechkin is proven wrong.

TORONTO SUN: Joe Warmington suggests if the NHL hired replacement players, it could bring the lockout to a swift end.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Easier said than done. For one, where will these players come from? The AHL? Not if they’re under NHL contracts, and I think AHL team owners and GMs wouldn’t be pleased with the NHL trying to gut their lineups, which could result in those teams hiring locked out NHL players (for AHL wages, of course) to fill the gaps. Even if the NHL were to do that, they’d have to dramatically slash prices, as fans won’t pay NHL prices to watch minor league talent. Ultimately, it would prove more costly to the league to do that. That’s why they didn’t go the replacement player route last time, and the reason I daresay they won’t consider that option again.

THE TENNESSEAN: The NHL lockout will benefit minor league teams, as the NHL clubs demote a number of players on two-way or entry-level contracts to the minors for the lockout’s duration.

SPORTINGNEWS.COM: Jesse Spector suggests former NHL player and current league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan might be able to broker a deal to end the lockout.

NEWSDAY: The NHL Lockout could cost Long Island $60 million in revenue.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maybe that might spur local officials to build the Islanders a new arena, or renovate their existing one? Naaaahhhhh….

NEW YORK POST: The mass exodus of locked out NHL players to Europe could make NHL GMS nervous that they could lose their star players to injury.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Didn’t prevent the last lockout, won’t bring this one to an end.

TSN.CA: has a listing of players currently headed overseas to play in European leagues during the NHL lockout. Among the notables are Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, Ottawa’s Sergei Gonchar, Edmonton’s Ales Hemsky, Dallas’ Jaromir Jagr, New Jersey’s Ilya Kovalchuk, Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, NY Rangers Rick Nash, Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec, and San Jose’s Joe Thornton.

PUCK DADDY’S Dmitry Chesnokov tweeted “Alex Ovechkin will negotiate w/Dynamo Moscow today, per his agent. He also had contacts with CSKA, where Sergei Fedorov is the GM.”

LATIMES.COM: Kings star Anze Kopitar is reportedly on the verge of signing with Mora IK, a second division team in Sweden.

ESPN.COM: Pierre LeBrun reported stars like Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Claude Giroux, Brad Richards, Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and Jamie Benn are either mulling their options or intend for the time being on staying in North America.

11 Comments

with all these players leaving and alot of euro players going back home,im just curious do they have to come back and play here or can they just stay over there if they are happier.i dont think the nhl teams can make them come back,but i have no idea.i think some of the owners might start to get worried.

Matt
on September 18, 2012 at 1:46 pm

European leagues and the NHL have an agreement on contracts im pretty sure… since the nhl is in a lock out they can play over seas but once the lockout is over they have to come back or it will be in a disagreement with the agreement the NHL and European Leagues have with each other… because i remember something going on with a player last season or two seasons ago where they wanted to go to the khl and play there because he was being sit or wasnt getting enough playing time.. but wasnt a loud

ranzeir
on September 18, 2012 at 1:50 pm

Warmington’s idea of using replacement players is laughable. Are we paying to see the best players play or are we really just cheering for the laundry they wear? When there’s nothing to write, write nothing.

alforducks
on September 18, 2012 at 2:04 pm

Anybody heard what NHL (USA) Networks intentions are ? Are they just going to replay day after day after day old re-runs or do they plan to put on Canadian Junior games, AHL and college games so that we can at least see what the future kids will look like.

jack
on September 18, 2012 at 2:43 pm

Lockout or no lockout, at least their will be a stanley cup champion this, because during the last lockout a group from canada went to court and argued that the nhl had violated the trustee agreement that they must award the stanley cup every year. The court ruled in their favor saying in the event of another lockout the nhl must award the stanley cup to a non nhl team. Question now is who gets to play for the cup, but at least we will have a stanley cup playoffs regardless of it consists of nhl players or not.

alforducks
on September 18, 2012 at 3:02 pm

The loser of the NBA Championship series ?

If there is no NHL season I don’t think anyone will care if someone is awarded the cup, it would demean it for the long term.

HABS_FTW
on September 18, 2012 at 3:19 pm

Posted this late last night on yesterdays thread so probably wasn’t seen by many.

Either way, I’m left scratching my head as to why the players refuse to take the 10% cut (or whatever it works out to) only to play in Europe. At least with the KHL anyways, the best they can make is 65% of their current salary, or namely a 35% cut.

I’m guessing other leagues are the same.

Just doesn’t make sense to me for players to complain about money to the point where there’s no deal made, only to run off and make less even if the NHL got their way.

paddy
on September 18, 2012 at 4:21 pm

I’m with you, HABS_FTW. The critical issue is the “Keeping up with the Joneses” between the players and the owners. The players say, “Oh, the owners make $X, so it’s unfair I only make $Y”.

But unfair is only in the eye of the beholder, and the Fehr brothers are making sure the players feel that the deal IS unfair.

Is a player happy making $4.5M/yr? The answer to that question shouldn’t have anything to do with the owners profits, in my opinion, but sadly it does.

Jim
on September 18, 2012 at 4:35 pm

1. These leagues all have agreements in place to respect each other’s contracts. NHL contracts are suspended during the lockout, so the Euro clubs are free to sign these players, but as soon as the lockout is lifted the NHL contracts will be in effect again and players and clubs will be expected to honor them. As an additional safeguard, I’m sure that the players’ agents will insist on having language in the contracts stating that a player who signs with a European club will be released immediately to return to his NHL team as soon as the lockout is lifted – that’s what they did the last time, and (with a couple of exceptions) it’s what almost all of the NBA players who went overseas during the NBA lockout did.

2. Players are trying to earn a living – even making 65% of their current salary is still better than making 0% of their current salary, which is what they get if they sit around in North America waiting for this to end. And anyway, as I noted, it’s just temporary until the CBA is resolved. It’s not like Kovalchuk and Ovechkin are signing five-year contracts in Russia and we’ll never see them again. Think of it as more like being laid off from your company with a promise of being re-hired in 6-8 months, and taking a temporary job to pay the bills until your old position opens up again.

chaas
on September 18, 2012 at 4:48 pm

The reason they’re flocking to other leagues right now is due to the owners and players thinking the other side should capitulate and sponsor revenue sharing in its entirety. Neither side is right, for the record. The league and PA have been touting for such a long time that they’re a partnership. Why haven’t they figured out a way to split it?

The league has been revenue sharing with NJ and Phoenix for a couple years now. No reason they can’t expand on what they’re doing, only 8 teams turned a significant profit last season. And the players, being part of the league, need to stop thinking the league should float everything.

Both sides are acting the part of petulant children.

Old_Soldier
on September 18, 2012 at 8:32 pm

Okay I have to ask, first of all, hiring replacement players would be illegal wouldnt it? The way I understand it, if the players had striked, then the possibility of replacement workers would be there, but since the owners “voluntarily” locked out the players they cannot use replacements.

While not advocating replacement players. As an Oiler fan, I would have no problem paying for center ice this fall if it meant I could watch all the kids play down in Oklahoma. In fact a few teams might have some pretty exciting rosters down in the AHL, Minnesota, Ottawa etc

Mass Exodus???? based on what I remember the last time, maybe 15% of NHL players, found other jobs, thats not exactly a stampede.

HABS_FTW personally I believe that when this is all said and done, the final deal will end up looking very much like the last NHL proposal. The biggest reason for the players reluctance to sign, based on everything I have read, is that they have to maintain their image of NOT giving in to owners. This is more about pride than anything else. The last CBA proved that in the long run, everyone is going to make money, so why drag things out?

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